Google today announced the launch of a new Google Search app extension for Messages, which can be accessed through the dedicated Messages App Store available within the Messages app on the iPhone and iPad.
When having a conversation with someone in the Messages app, you can tap on the new Google Search icon to bring up an interface that allows you to conduct Google searches without the need to exit the Messages app.
There are quick buttons to access the weather, restaurants located nearby, attractions in the area like parks and museums, trending news stories, and trending videos. You'll also see a search bar at the top of the interface for traditional searches, and there's a GIF button for quickly searching for GIFs to share. This functionality is limited to the United States at the current time.
The Google app for iOS now supports an iMessage extension to help you search and share GIFs, restaurants and videos, whenever you're messaging a friend. You can tap on the icon for "Food" or "Nearby" to share your favorite locations, or perform a search and share a card directly into the conversation. Want to research a new restaurant before sharing it with friends? Just tap on the restaurant card, and we'll take you to the Google Search page, where you can look up the busiest times, as well as menus and reviews. Switch to GIF Search mode, and you can find and share a "happy birthday" GIF.
Google's new iMessage extension is available today, with no need to update the app or install anything to get the new feature. It's automatically available in Messages through the iMessage apps drawer.
In addition to the new iMessage extension, Google today also announced a new related suggestions option in Safari. When you share a webpage with Google using the Share extension on an iOS device, Google will show suggestions for related content so you can learn more about a particular topic without the need to type a new query into the search box.
You can bring up this new option by visiting a webpage, selecting the Share icon, and then choosing the "Search Google" shortcut.
The final feature Google added to the Google iOS app today is support for drag and drop on the iPad. With drag and drop, you can move text, images, links, and more to and from the Google app.
Google for iOS can be downloaded from the App Store for free. [Direct Link]
Smart locks are one of the more popular types of HomeKit accessories, and Yale's Assure Lock SL deadbolt announced last October is one of the more interesting options on the market today. It's available in Polished Brass, Oil Rubbed Bronze, and Satin Nickel, and I've been using the Oil Rubbed Bronze for the past few months.
With the Assure Lock SL, Yale has pursued an interesting strategy of offering a $169 basic keyless entry deadbolt that can also accommodate one of several optional $50 hardware modules that add support for HomeKit, Z-Wave, or Zigbee smart home integration.
Locking Overview and Design
While most smart deadbolts allow users to lock and unlock from the outside with both a keypad code and a standard key, the Assure Lock SL foregoes support for a standard key entirely. As a result, it allows for a much cleaner look from the outside with only a small keypad visible, and it obviously also prevents the lock from being manually picked.
Exterior view
It sounds like a dangerous design decision that could easily leave you locked out if your batteries run out, but Yale has a solution to that dilemma – touching a standard 9V battery to a pair of terminals on the bottom of the lock will provide enough power to allow you to enter your code and unlock the door. Other manufacturers like Schlage and Kwikset are also hopping on this bandwagon as a solution toward eliminating keys entirely, so it's likely to become even more popular in the future.
Now, I don't know anyone who carries a 9V battery everywhere they go, so it means if your lock loses power while you're gone you'll need to run to the store, borrow one from a neighbor, or maybe even keep one hidden outside your door. It's obviously more work than just unlocking with a key, but part of the appeal of smart locks is that you don't need to carry keys with you. Hiding a key outside your door has some risk because anyone who finds it can unlock your door, but a hidden 9V battery is useless unless the person also knows your unlock code for the keypad.
While the decision to omit support for a traditional key makes for a very clean look from the outside, unfortunately the same isn't as true for the inside. As with most smart locks, the interior component is a relatively bulky affair, needing room for manual deadbolt control, electronics, and space for 4 AA batteries to power the unit. In addition, there needs to be room for the network module to add support for HomeKit, Z-Wave, or Zigbee.
Hardware Installation
Installation is straightforward and will be generally familiar to anyone who has installed even a traditional deadbolt. After your old deadbolt has been removed, you pretty much just repeat the process in reverse, inserting the latch through the edge of the door and then sandwiching it with the exterior touchscreen assembly on one side and an interior mounting plate on the other side, being careful that the posts on the mounting plate line up with the proper holes on the exterior and that the cable from the exterior touchscreen is fed through to the inside of the lock.
Yale provides three pairs of bolts in different lengths to secure the two sides together, depending on the thickness of your door. Just make sure you have everything lined up and level before you tighten them down. A rubber gasket around the edge of the exterior escutcheon helps provide a solid level of weather protection.
Interior view of mounting plate (left) and attached interior escutcheon (right)
From there it's a matter of connecting the cable to the interior assembly, feeding the cable past a guide to secure it so that it doesn't get pinched when everything is assembled, and using three short screws to attach the interior escutcheon to the mounting plate. Install the matching strike plate on the door frame opposite the latch if you wish, and your lock is ready to be tested for manual operation to make sure everything is properly aligned.
Once everything looks good, you're ready to install the four AA batteries and screw on the battery compartment cover, and the lock will power up with verbal cues to help walk you through the programming process. The verbal cues are a nice addition beyond the normal beeps that provide feedback on most other locks.
Programming
Programming is fairly simple, with the lock itself offering voice guidance starting with the creation of a Master PIN code that allows for changing settings, and then up to 25 user codes to provide door access. From there, you're good to go if you're happy with the factory settings, but you can also customize a fair number of options, including whether the lock should automatically re-lock 30 seconds after opening, whether an interior indicator light should come on to confirm locked status, one-touch locking so you can lock your door without having to enter a user code, and more.
There's also a Privacy option that lets you use a button on the inside of the lock to enter a "do not disturb" mode that temporarily disables all user codes to keep even authorized users from entering.
I found it was easiest to complete the traditional setup process before moving on to adding in the HomeKit compatibility, so once the initial programming was done, I unscrewed the battery compartment cover, removed the batteries, and inserted the iM1 network module into the slot. Reinstalling the batteries and battery cover starts the system back up, and you use the Master PIN code to enroll the module.
Batteries and orange iM1 HomeKit module installed
Once that's done, you can use the Yale Secure iOS app to get the lock online via Bluetooth and synced up with your HomeKit data. Installing a network module also increases the number of user codes you can store for the lock from 25 to 250.
General Operation
While smart features handled through an app or HomeKit are nice, a smart lock also needs to work well in manual operation, and the Yale Assure Lock SL handles that well. It offers a sleek, unobtrusive look from the outside, and with a touchscreen interface, aside from a Yale logo it's completely blank until you activate it. Once you touch the screen, it lights up brightly to make it easy to see in the dark, and the backlit numbers won't wear off like on some other keypad locks.
Compared to other locks that can only communicate with simple beeps, the Assure Lock SL includes a small speaker that lets it emit not only several different tones to help convey information, but also provide voice guidance during setup in three languages: English, Spanish, and French. The voice guidance can also provide information during normal operation, such as alerting someone trying to enter that Privacy mode has been turned on or if they've taken too long between entering digits of the PIN code and their time has expired.
Overall operation is smooth, with the keypad accurately registering presses even with gloves on. After entering a PIN code when unlocking the door, you do have to press the checkmark key to confirm your entry, which feels like an unnecessary extra keypress, but that's a minor quibble.
Yale Secure App
The Yale Secure app for managing lock functions from your phone is a simple app, but it offers a clean look based on a black, yellow, and white color scheme. It supports multiple homes and displays all of your compatible Yale locks that are online, making it easy to lock and unlock with a tap.
Lock setup and options
It also lets you manage assigned user codes, monitor battery level, and adjust all of the settings you'd otherwise need to manage in a bit more cumbersome manner directly from the lock's touchscreen. User codes can be easily added and deleted as needed, but it would be nice if codes could be set to automatically expire after a period of time or only allow entry at certain times.
Managing PIN codes
Finally, the app keeps an eye out for firmware updates for your lock and applies them when they're available. This isn't a full HomeKit app, so you won't be able to use Yale Secure to see the status of other HomeKit devices or set up automation with multiple devices here.
HomeKit Operation
As with other HomeKit-enabled smart locks, the Yale Assure SL can be controlled via Siri or Apple's Home app for iOS, and it can be integrated with other HomeKit products through automation routines to activate based on groupings into rooms or scenes, or with triggers where an event on one HomeKit device causes another device to be activated.
Throughout my testing, the lock was responsive to HomeKit commands, with its status showing up quickly in the Home app and quickly locking or unlocking from either Siri commands or the Home app, regardless of whether I was home or away. With a range of HomeKit devices around the house, setting up a "Good Night" scene makes it easy to ensure all lights are turned off, doors are locked, and the garage door is closed before heading off to bed.
Battery Backup
As I outlined above, there's no physical cylinder for unlocking the Assure Lock SL with a key, so if the batteries in the lock die, Yale's backup solution is to touch a 9V battery to terminals on the bottom of the lock to give it enough power to open up. If you can get your hands on a 9V battery easily enough, it's pretty nice solution, and hopefully you won't ever have to use it if you heed low-battery warnings and make sure your lock's batteries don't run out.
I tested out the 9V battery backup method several times, and while it's a little finicky getting a good connection to the terminals and holding the battery steady, once you've got everything in place the lock powers up just fine and lets you lock and unlock normally.
After three months of occasional use, the Yale Secure app is still reporting 83 percent battery life remaining on the set of AA batteries that came with the lock. If this is indeed accurate and a relatively linear measure of battery life, battery changes should be few and far between, further limiting the potential need to use the 9V battery backup solution.
Wrap-up
The Yale Assure Lock SL is a very nice smart lock. It performs well in all three aspects of operation: direct interaction with the lock, app management, and HomeKit integration. It's proven reliable with solid battery life, and the 9V battery backup system is an innovative method for eliminating the need for keys entirely.
At $169 plus an additional $50 for the HomeKit module, the Assure Lock SL is fairly pricey, but not completely out of range compared to competing products. On the one hand, the separate network modules make it easy to add support for a smart home system after purchase and you only have to pay for it if you want it, but on the other hand, $50 feels a bit high and it only lets you work with your choice of a single smart home protocol.
The Yale Assure Lock SL with included iM1 HomeKit module is available for $219.99 in Satin Nickel, Polished Brass, and Oil Rubbed Bronze from a variety of retailers such as Best Buy (Satin Nickel/Polished Brass) and Amazon (Satin Nickel/Polished Brass). Amazon also has the lock/module package in Oil Rubbed Bronze, but is charging $249.99 for some reason.
Note: Yale/Assa Abloy provided the Assure Lock SL to MacRumors free of charge for the purposes of this review. No other compensation was received. MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Best Buy and Amazon and may earn commissions on purchases made through links in this article.
Apple today seeded the fourth beta of an upcoming macOS High Sierra 10.13.4 update to developers, two weeks after seeding the third beta and two weeks after the release of a macOS High Sierra 10.13.3 Supplemental Update to address a bug that could cause apps to crash when receiving a character from the Indian language Telugu.
The new macOS High Sierra 10.13.4 beta can be downloaded from the Apple Developer Center or through the Software Update mechanism in the Mac App Store with the proper profile installed.
macOS High Sierra 10.13.4 includes bug fixes and performance improvements for issues that weren't addressed in macOS High Sierra 10.13.3.
The update offers support for some features that are available in iOS 11.3, like Messages on iCloud, which uploads all of your iMessages to the cloud. It will also support Business Chat, a feature coming when iOS 11.3 and macOS 10.13.4 are released to the public, and it includes improved support for eGPUs.
The macOS 10.13.4 update also brings the smoke cloud wallpaper that was previously only available on the iMac Pro, it replaces the "iBooks" app with the new renamed "Books" app, and it introduces a warning when opening up a 32-bit app as part of an effort to phase them out.
In the future, Apple plans to phase out 32-bit Mac apps, just like it did with 32-bit iOS apps. Apple says macOS High Sierra is the last version of macOS that will support 32-bit apps without compromises.
Update: Apple has also seeded a fourth beta of macOS High Sierra 10.13.4 for public beta testers.
Apple today seeded the fourth beta of an upcoming tvOS 11.3 update to developers for testing purposes, two weeks after seeding the third beta and two weeks after releasing the tvOS 11.2.6 update.
Designed for the fourth and fifth-generation Apple TV models, the tvOS 11.3 developer beta can be downloaded onto the Apple TV via a profile that's installed using Xcode and Apple Configurator.
Early tvOS 11.3 updates introduced support for AirPlay 2, allowing the Apple TV to be added to the Home app as part of a HomeKit setup and enabling multiple Apple TVs in separate rooms to play the same song, but that functionality was removed in tvOS 11.3 beta 3.
It is not yet clear if Apple plans to re-add AirPlay 2 features ahead of the release of tvOS 11.3, but it's a possibility because there are still several betas to go.
Other new features in tvOS 11.3 include enhancements to Match Content support, automatic frame rate switching on the fourth-generation Apple TV (a feature that was added to Apple TV 4K in a past tvOS update), and automatic mode switching for AirPlay video sessions.
Update: Apple has also seeded a fourth beta of tvOS 11.3 for public beta testers.
Apple today seeded the fourth beta of an upcoming iOS 11.3 update to developers for testing purposes, two weeks after seeding the third beta and two weeks after the release of iOS 11.2.6, an update that addressed a bug causing iPhones and iPads to crash when a character from the Indian language Telugu was rendered improperly.
Registered developers can download the new iOS 11.3 beta from Apple's Developer Center or over-the-air once the proper configuration profile has been installed from the Developer Center.
iOS 11.3 is a major update that introduces a long list of new features, like Messages in iCloud for saving space and syncing messages across devices, and ARKit 1.5, a new version of ARKit able to more accurately map irregularly shaped surfaces, recognize images, and place objects on vertical surfaces like walls.
There are four new Animoji on the iPhone X (dragon, bear, skull, and lion), and in the Health app, there's a new Health Records feature that aggregates all of your medical records in one easy-to-access place.
As of iOS 11.3 beta 2, the update includes a new "Battery Health" feature that's designed to provide iOS users with more information about their batteries.
Battery Health offers details on maximum battery capacity and peak performance capability, and for devices with degraded batteries, it provides information on if and when a device is being throttled with performance management features. It also provides a way for customers who do have a device with a degraded battery to turn off performance management all together.
By default, iOS 11.3 disables performance management on the iPhone, and the feature is only re-enabled once a device experiences an unexpected shutdown.
Early betas of iOS 11.3 and tvOS 11.3 included support for AirPlay 2 features, allowing audio to be played to multiple Apple TVs, but these features were removed in iOS 11.3 and tvOS 11.3 beta 3.
Other features in iOS 11.3 include a "For You" section in Apple News that displays the top videos of the day, support for Advanced Mobile Location (AML) for more accurate location when placing an emergency call in a supported country, more information about app size in the Updates tap in the App Store, software authentication for HomeKit, and a new Privacy screen and icon that will show up whenever Apple asks you for info.
iBooks has also had the "i" removed from its name, so it's just "Books" now, and the App Store now lets you sort reviews by most helpful, most favorable, most critical, and most recent, a handy change for better finding the app info you're looking for.
Business Chat, which will let you interface with businesses like Wells Fargo, Delta, Hilton and Lowe's right in the Messages app is coming when iOS 11.3 is released, and improvements to Apple Music will bring better support for music videos.
iOS 11.3 will be released to the public in the spring. Spring kicks off on March 20, so the update will be in testing for at least another couple of weeks.
Update: In iOS 11.3 beta 4, the renamed "Books" app has reverted to its original "iBooks" name.
Update 2: Apple has also seeded a fourth beta of iOS 11.3 for public beta testers.
Microsoft is planning to integrate its AI assistant Cortana directly into the Outlook mobile apps on iOS and Android, according to people familiar with the company's plans speaking with The Verge. Cortana currently offers various email-related actions and commands on supported devices, but the assistant can not be called up within Outlook on smartphones.
With the addition of Cortana, Outlook users will be able to hear their emails read aloud and respond to them with their voice. Details are still scarce, but the sources said that command phrases will include asking Cortana "What's my email," or asking to read recent emails from a specific contact.
The Cortana integration will allow users of the popular mobile email client to listen to and respond to emails with their voice. This will be particularly useful during car journeys, and Microsoft is testing Cortana integration directly within Outlook mobile that will work over Bluetooth and read messages aloud. Users will be able to ask Cortana phrases like “what’s my email,” or just to read messages from specific contacts.
The most recent Cortana-related iOS news saw the AI assistant's iOS app gain native iPad support last month. Prior to that, Microsoft updated Cortana's iPhone app last October with a revamped interface and improved performance.
Microsoft and Google each have apps dedicated to their AI assistants on the iOS App Store, aimed as competitors to Siri. The main limitation of the non-Apple assistants is that they lack system-wide functionality on iPhones and iPads, and can only work within their own apps.
Right now, the Cortana Outlook update is being tested internally within Microsoft and "if the feedback is positive," then it will make its way to beta and public releases of Outlook on iOS and Android.
Accessory company Mophie has applied to the Wireless Power Consortium for an accessory it calls the "Juice Pack Air for iPhone X." Spotted by Mac Otakara [Google Translate] in the WPC's Qi Certified Product Database, Mophie was granted a certification for the accessory today, March 5, suggesting the iPhone X accessory could be announced in the near future and then be available to purchase sometime later this year.
While there are already iPhone X battery cases on the market, Mophie's accessory is the first to be Qi-certified by the WPC. This certification program encourages manufacturers to submit verification that their products comply with the latest Qi specifications, and subsequently allows customers more peace of mind when purchasing products, knowing that they will support devices like the iPhone X, 8, and 8 Plus.
The Juice Pack Air for iPhone X is described as a "form fitting case for the iPhone X," with a 1,720 mAh battery that provides "an additional 9 hours of talk time." Comparatively, the Juice Pack Air for iPhone 7 has a 2,525 mAh battery and the iPhone 7 Plus accessory has a 2,420 mAh battery. In the sole image posted to the Wireless Power Consortium's product details page (seen to the left in the above image), the accessory appears in black. Mophie sells similar Juice Pack Air products for other iPhones in up to five colors, like Navy and Rose Gold, so other colors could be coming as well.
Like those products, Mophie's Juice Pack Air for iPhone X would let users charge up the battery inside the case, and when their iPhone X begins to die, they could flip a switch and begin fueling up the iPhone while on the go. The Juice Pack line is compatible with Mophie's "Charge Force" ecosystem, so it can be placed on accessories like the Charge Force Desk Mount or any other Qi-enabled mat.
Mophie's Juice Pack Air for iPhone X (left) compared to iPhone 7 (right)
Mophie currently sells Juice Pack accessories for the iPhone 7/7 Plus, 6s/6s Plus, 6/6 Plus, SE, 5s, and 5, as well as a few other Android devices, typically priced at around $100. The only wireless charging accessories it has listed on the iPhone X's page are the Wireless Charging Base (also sold on Apple.com), the Charge Force Wireless Charging Base, and Charge Force Powerstation.
Late last year, Dialog Semiconductor admitted that Apple could build its own power management chips for future iPhones, and no longer rely on the British-based chipmaker for such technology. This weekend, Dialog CEO Jalal Bagherli provided further details on this topic, now expecting Apple to use Dialog chips for "a significant proportion of its devices" in 2019 and 2020 (via Reuters).
When Dialog admitted that Apple could be working on building its own chips, it said there was no risk to its existing supply deals for 2018, and that the company was already in advanced stages of working with Apple on designing "2019-style products" that could lead to commercial contracts by this month. In regards to the 2018 contract, Bagherli said, "Negotiations over that chip are still ongoing. But we expect to deliver a chip design for testing in the customer’s system in the second half of the year."
“Apple at the start of the year commissioned us with the design of chips for many devices for 2019 and 2020,” weekly Euro am Sonntag quoted Bagherli as saying in an interview published on Saturday, without providing details.
Over the past year, Dialog's stock is said to have lost "more than half of its value" on the sole concern of the company losing business from Apple. According to analysts, over 50 percent of Dialog's revenue comes from supplying Apple with power management integrated circuits -- a technology that many believe Apple now has the ability to create in-house.
Rumors of Apple developing its own power management chips began with a prediction by Bankhaus Lampe analyst Karsten Iltgen last spring, who said that Apple would at least cut back on Dialog's supply of the chips for future iPhones. Then, in November, Nikkeicorroborated that prediction in a report that stated Apple would replace half of the main power management chips for iPhones with its own by 2019.
The same report claimed that Apple's chip will be "the most advanced in the industry," with processing abilities that allow future iPhones to "better monitor and control power consumption." If these rumors turn out to be true, Apple could transition to supply all of the power management chips for its iPhones in 2021 and beyond.
Apple has confirmed a similar shift in creating its own technology for the iPhone's graphics processing chips, ending a reliance on Imagination Technology's chips by 2019.
As reported last month, Apple is said to be developing its own brand of high-end, over-ear wireless headphones with an "all-new" design. The new headphones are expected to debut in the fourth quarter of this year at the earliest, according to KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, and today Bloomberg weighed in to corroborate that rumor, along with an additional detail regarding Apple's plans for the cans.
The Cupertino, California-based technology giant is working on noise-canceling, over-ear headphones that rival headsets from market leaders like Bose and even the company's own Beats by Dre brand, according to people familiar with the product's development. The company plans to launch the headphones as early as the end of this year, but has faced development challenges that might push back the release, the people said.
Kuo's earlier report specified Apple's plan was to target the high-end market, but the focus on active noise-cancelation (ANC) features puts a new angle on the company's intentions. Apple acquired Beats Music and Beats Electronics in 2014, and only five months ago, Beats launched its Studio3 wireless over-ear headphones featuring Apple's W1 Bluetooth pairing chip – first used in AirPods – and Pure Adaptive Noise Canceling technology. Apart from blocking out ambient noise, Pure ANC also evaluates fit and adjusts for leakage caused by hair, glasses, different ear shapes and head movement.
Whether Apple's own-brand ANC headphones will adopt the same set of technologies as Beats Studio3 cans remains unclear, although Bloomberg's sources indicate Apple plans to include similar wireless pairing functionality to the AirPods. The paper's sources also claim work on the headphones has been "on-and-off over the past year" and that it's still possible Apple will redesign the headphones again before launch – or even scrap the project altogether.
Another detail that remains unclear is pricing. Beats, Bose, and Sony charge $350 for their high-end wireless ANC headphones, while Sennheiser prices can run all the way up to $500. Should Apple take the same pricing strategy as it did with HomePod, which is at least $100 higher than the closest rival product from Sonos, then customers can expect the rumored headphones to be a top-tier premium audio accessory with a price tag to match.
Along with over-ear headphones, Apple is also reportedly working on several upgrades to its wireless AirPods with a new version of the popular headphones set for release as soon as this year.
Apple News is the built-in news app for iOS 11 that aggregates and curates stories and topics from a variety of third-party news sources. The service is only available in the U.S., Australia, and the U.K. at the time of writing, so not all new iPhones and iPads will come with the stock app installed.
Apple News aims to offer a cleanly presented and personalized news service that caters to your tastes and interests, although one of its default behaviors is to spit out alerts from sources that you may or may not be interested in. Apple News refers to news sources in the app as "channels", and here we are going to run through two ways to control the alerts you receive from them.
KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has issued a new research report encouraging investors to keep their eyes on three products for 2018: the rumored 6.1-inch LCD iPhone, AirPods, and a "more affordable MacBook Air." The first two in that list have been widely discussed in recent weeks and months, but this is the first we've heard about an update to the MacBook Air.
We expect Apple (US) to roll out the new MacBook Air with a lower price tag in 2Q18. We forecast total shipments of MacBook models will grow 10-15% YoY in 2018 (vs. 0-5% YoY decline for the NB industry), up from 15.5-16mn units in 2017. While Quanta, Radiant, Catcher and SZS are likely to benefit from strong shipments momentum, SZS also stands to benefit from increased market share and a higher ASP.
Kuo doesn't offer any details on what to expect in an updated MacBook Air beyond a lower price tag, but the current models are certainly outdated as they haven't had any substantial updates in three years. Since that time, Apple has cut back on available models including a complete discontinuation of the 11-inch model. The only recent upgrade to the 13-inch model has been a bump to the base processor option last June, but it's still a Broadwell chip from the 2014–15 timeframe.
Aside from obvious internal upgrades like processors and graphics, another area that could see improvement is the display, as the MacBook Air currently offers a 1440 x 900 non-Retina display. We'll likely also see some USB-C/Thunderbolt 3 upgrades and perhaps an overall redesign given the age of the current design.
Kuo's claim of a second-quarter introduction points to the April–June timeframe, which could mean an announcement at WWDC in June, and we'll likely hear more rumors as the time gets closer.
In a separate report, Kuo predicts that AirPods and the rumored high-end over-ear headphones are the future of Apple's artificial intelligence and augmented reality ambitions. Kuo believes that compared to HomePod, Apple's headphones offer more opportunities for reaching users quickly, personalization, and complementing rumored augmented reality glasses. Kuo is extremely optimistic about AirPods demand going forward, but less enthusiastic about HomePod given "mediocre" demand so far.
There are a lot of hidden features in both macOS and iOS that often go under the radar, either because they've not received much attention from Apple, or they've been forgotten after a period of time.
In the latest video over on our YouTube channel, we've rounded up some useful macOS tips and tricks that you might not know about.
Universal Copy Paste - In iOS 10 and macOS Sierra, Apple introduced a universal copy paste feature. On devices where you're signed into your iCloud account, if you copy something on one device, you can paste it to another. So if you copy something on your iPhone, for example, you can swap over to your Mac to paste it.
Menu Bar - If you hold down the Command key, you can use your mouse or trackpad to rearrange the icons of the menu bar at the top of your screen.
Dragging Text - You can highlight text on your Mac and then hold down with the trackpad or a mouse to drag that text into another app. If you drag text to the desktop, it'll create a new text clip document.
Split Screen - To quickly access the split-screen multitasking mode on your Mac, click and hold the mouse cursor over the green button in the upper left hand corner of any app window.
Emoji - To insert an emoji into any document or message, hold down the Control and Command keys and then press the space bar to bring up an emoji menu interface where you can choose an emoji.
Picture-in-Picture - When you watch a video on your Mac, like the YouTube video above, click on the Picture-in-Picture button that's in the bottom right of the video player (it looks like an arrow pointing at a separate screen). If there's no Picture-in-Picture button, you can hold down Control and then double-click inside the video to open up a shortcut menu. From there, you'll have a separate video window that can be moved and resized.
Signing Documents - When viewing a PDF or document in an app like Preview, there are tools for inserting a signature. You can create a signature using a finger on the trackpad of your Mac, which is a handy way to sign digital documents.
For more of our how tos and guides, make sure to check out our How To and Guide roundup sections on the site. For more Mac specific tips, keep an eye on our macOS High Sierra roundup, where we highlight macOS High Sierra tips and tricks in addition to everything you need to know about the operating system.
In addition to our standalone articles covering the latest Apple news and rumors at MacRumors, this Quick Takes column provides a bite-sized recap of other headlines about Apple and its competitors on weekdays.
Commentary: Apple has poached several Sony executives, including Jamie Erlicht and Zack Van Amburg, who run the company's new Worldwide Video Programming division. Apple has already placed orders for over 10 original series with well-known actors and producers such as Jennifer Aniston and Steven Spielberg.
Apple hasn't revealed how it plans to distribute its original content, but it will soon. The company could launch a streaming service like Netflix, or it could release the series through its TV app or iTunes. In the past, episodes of Apple's "Carpool Karaoke: The Series" and "Planet of the Apps" were exclusive to Apple Music.
Microsoft releases Soundscape: The app for iPhone uses 3D audio technology to enhance a person's surroundings, helping people with blindness or low vision to explore unfamiliar areas. An audio beacon can be placed on a point of interest, which users hear as they move around.
Soundscape provides information about your surroundings with synthesized binaural audio, creating the effect of 3D sound. It can run in the background in conjunction with navigation or other applications to provide you with additional context about the environment. Your phone, in hand or in pocket, tracks movement using location and activity sensors, and lets you move toward a self-set audio beacon.
Commentary: This is a great example of how technology can improve accessibility. Microsoft still encourages users with vision loss to continue to place their basic awareness of their surroundings and mobility skills as a priority.
Commentary: Unmarked coach buses have been attacked by pellet guns at least 20 times recently while transporting Apple and Google employees along the Interstate 280, between San Francisco and the South Bay, where each company is headquartered. Hopefully these efforts will help catch the perpetrators.
Commentary: WiseWear acquired the original company behind the Reserve Strap last year, well after orders were suspended due to the changes in watchOS, so it's hard to see them having a strong case should they proceed.
For this week's giveaway, we've teamed up with Mission Workshop to give MacRumors readers a chance to win a rugged, slick looking laptop backpack called The Rhake.
The Rhake, like all of the backpacks from Mission Workshop, is made from weatherproof Cordura and built using a two-layer construction that's designed to keep everything inside safe and dry even in rainy, snowy conditions. Priced at $365, it comes in black, gray, and olive, with a black camo that has special Cobra buckles option available for $455.
Inside, the Rhake has a ton of pockets to carry your laptop and all of your accessories. There's a padded pocket that fits all modern Apple MacBooks and leaves them accessible from the exterior of the pack for quick access, a 10-inch tablet pocket to hold your iPad, and a 22-liter roll-top main compartment that you can roll up or unfurl based on what you need to haul.
A hidden water bottle pocket holds a water bottle or similarly shaped item and zips away when you're not using it, an exterior accessory pocket holds chargers and other small miscellaneous items, an interior zip pocket holds documents, and two interior zippered organizational pockets can house notebooks, business cards, pens, and other accessories.
In addition to all of these pockets, there are horizontal exterior straps across the Rhake with quick release buckles to store coats, hats, and more on the outside of the backpack. Several add-on accessories can be used with the Rhake, including quick-release Cobra buckles ($60), a Roll Tool ($24), and a smartphone pocket ($36).
A foam back panel means the Rhake is always comfortable even when it's packed full of gear, and a luggage handle pass-through option means you can use it with roller luggage when traveling.
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Apple CEO Tim Cook this morning tweeted a series of images that celebrate the Hindu festival of Holi, which began on March 1 and ended today, March 2.
Cook shared three images from the India-based festival, taken by photographers Prashanth Viswanathan, Amit Mehra, and Ashish Parmar. Cook noted that each image was shot on the iPhone X.
Each image depicts people participating in Holi's colorful festivities, which mark the end of winter and beginning of spring. The festival is largely celebrated within India, but events expand beyond India into the United Kingdom, United States, South Africa, and more.
Two of the images use Portrait Lighting on the iPhone X, a feature that provides several unique lighting effects as a way to emphasize part of an image. Both of the pictures from the Holi festivities use the "Stage Light" effect, which spotlights a subject against a dark background.
Check out Cook's tweet to see all of the pictures shared from Holi.
In late 2016, Snapchat launched its first consumer product with the Spectacles, a pair of glasses that came equipped with a small camera that could record video clips from a first-person perspective and upload them to a Story on the iOS and Android Snapchat app. Although the company ultimately took a $40 million loss on the Spectacles, a new report from live news show Cheddar today claims that Snapchat is doubling down on the product and is working on two new versions of Spectacles.
Specifically, a second generation model is said to be coming as soon as this fall and is "currently being manufactured," according to people familiar with the company's plans. This model will be water resistant, have bug fixes, performance improvements, and new color options, but otherwise won't have any "dramatic changes."
After that model debuts, Snapchat is planning "a more ambitious version" for 2019 that is described as featuring an all-new design, built-in GPS, two camera lenses, and more advanced camera technology within each lens to fuel "3D-like depth effects in videos." While the first Spectacles ran for $130, the third generation pair could cost up to $300.
Notably, both versions could also feature augmented reality abilities and potentially compete with the "Apple Glasses," if that product becomes reality.
Snap intends for future versions of Spectacles to incorporate AR capabilities, like integration with Snapchat’s virtual Bitmoji avatars and animated lenses. Nearly every major tech company, from Apple to Facebook, is working on similar AR eyewear.
Snap CEO Evan Spiegel has said publicly that selling hardware will be an important part of his business in roughly a decade. People familiar with his thinking said that he sees augmented reality, or the overlaying of virtual objects onto the physical world, as the next paradigm shift in personal computing.
In addition to the news of potential updates to Spectacles, Snapchat is also now rumored to be holding conversations with major glasses companies like Luxottica and Warby Parker. This could lead to Snapchat licensing out its Spectacles-based camera technology to other companies, so that users could buy more traditional looking glasses and still have access to frames that connect to their Snapchat.
Apple is rumored to be entering the smart glasses field, although the company's product at this point in the rumor cycle is described as focusing mainly on augmented reality and not taking images or recording video. Still, the product is said to be in early experimental stages and could change as Apple tries to determine the "most compelling application." In January, Apple representatives reportedly met with suppliers who make the type of parts required to power such AR "Apple Glasses," which could launch by 2020.
U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday said he plans to impose tariffs of 25 percent on imported steel and 10 percent on imported aluminum to protect domestic producers. Trump is expected to sign the formal order next week, and he promised that it will remain in effect for a "long period of time."
The controversial plan would almost certainly apply to Apple products like iPhones, iPads, and Macs, which contain a significant amount of the metals. The latest 15-inch MacBook Pro contains 740 grams of aluminum, for example, while the iPhone X contains 58 grams of stainless steel for its frame.
The details of Trump's plan aren't fully clear yet, however, according to Bloomberg News. If the tariffs only apply to raw materials, for instance, then Apple would be largely unaffected since the majority of its devices are assembled in Asia and shipped to the United States as finished products.
If the duties do apply to finished products, analyst Gene Munster speculated Apple's costs to make Macs and iPhones could rise as much as 0.2 percent, assuming the tax is a percentage of the steel and aluminum used in the devices.
Apple's domestic manufacturing is limited to the Mac Pro, assembled in Austin, Texas. The high-end computer contains 3,660 grams of aluminum and steel imported from outside of the United States, making it subject to the proposed tariffs. However, the Mac Pro is only produced in limited quantities.
The biggest question is whether the impact on Apple's profit margins would lead the company to raise the prices of Macs and iPhones, but given the company's costs are only estimated see a marginal increase, it would seem unlikely.
Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.
Asymco analyst Horace Dediu this week shared new research that focuses on determining the average lifespan of Apple devices. Dediu's research doesn't break down data on a specific product level, but instead encompasses Apple's entire stable of products in one general lifespan average. According to Dediu's proposal, if you use the number of active devices and cumulative devices sold, you can get to the average lifespan (via The Next Web).
Dediu's research on this topic was propelled forward when Apple CEO Tim Cook revealed the total number of active Apple devices -- 1.3 billion worldwide -- during the company's most recent earnings call. Now, the analyst proposed that to determine the average lifespan, you can subtract the known active devices number from cumulative devices sold to determine "cumulative retired devices."
Dediu then said that to estimate the average lifespan, you calculate the time between "cumulative devices sold" at the beginning of a product's lifespan, and the current "cumulative retired devices." He ultimately determined that the average Apple device lifespan is about 4 years and three months, when looking at the data of Apple products sold in Q2 2013 and retired in Q4 2017, a time when the 2013 devices died or otherwise stopped working and their owners sought to purchase new versions.
Dediu gave a detailed breakdown of his calculations:
Here’s how to compute this yourself: Visually, the lifespan is the distance horizontally between the two vertical bars such that the bars are the same length. The top vertical bar measures the gap between the area (cumulative devices) and the curve (active devices) and the lower bar is the gap between the area and the x-axis, i.e. the cumulative devices. When those two bars are the same size the distance between them is the lifespan (at the time of the top bar.)
Arithmetically, the average lifespan at a given time t is the duration between t and the moment when the cumulative devices sold reached the cumulative retired devices at time t.
For example today–as the visual above represents–the lifespan is the time since cumulative devices sold reached the current total retired devices. The cumulative retired devices can be calculated as 2.05 billion cumulative sold minus 1.3 billion active or 750 million. The time when cumulative devices sold reached 750 million was the third quarter 2013. The lifespan is thus estimated at the time between now and Q3 2013 or 17 quarters or about 4 years and three months.
He noted that cumulative devices sold for Apple includes Macs, iPhones, iPads, Apple Watches, and the iPod touch, although of course the lifespan average number is just that -- an average -- and doesn't perfectly apply to each individual product. Just over four years is likely in the ballpark for how long Mac users keep around their computers, but if looked at on a product-by-product basis that statistic would likely be different for iPhone and Apple Watch owners.
For more details on the topic, check out Dediu's full post on Asymco.com.
Apple News is the built-in news app for iOS 11 that aggregates and curates stories and topics from a variety of third-party news sources. The service is only available in the U.S., Australia, and the U.K. at the time of writing, so not all new iPhones and iPads will come with the stock app installed.
